1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a medical device useful during laparascopic procedures for reducing the size of specimens so that they can be removed from a body by a minimally invasive surgical technique.
2. Description of Related Art
During the removal of a diseased gallbladder, an inflamed appendix, or other procedure using laparoendoscopic techniques it is frequently necessary to remove objects which are larger than the tubular structure (e.g., trocar) through which the procedure is being conducted. One method of reducing the size of such object is to use a device such as a morcellator, which, in conjunction with a suitable tissue isolation bag, mechanically reduces the size of the object by a grinding or flailing action. The isolation bag can then be subsequently withdrawn through the trocar. If such a device is not available, or is ineffective, then the surgeon must increase the size of the hole through which he is working, which is not desirable. The current invention offers a much improved method of tissue or stone reduction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,379 ("Clayman") discloses a surgical tissue bag for percutaneously debulking tissue by inserting the bag through an access sheath into a body cavity, inserting surgically removed tissue through an open end of the bag, closing the end of the bag and pulling the closed end out of the body cavity, opening the end of the bag and morcellating or debulking the tissue through the open end of the bag while the remainder of the bag remains in the body cavity. The bag is made of flexible and foldable material and includes an inner layer of puncture resistant material such as nylon in either a woven or solid layer form for resisting penetration by a surgical morcellating instrument. The outer layer of the bag is made of a moisture proof material such as plastisol.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,074,867 ("Wilk") discloses a procedure for removing a gall bladder wherein a sheet-like membrane having wires connected to corners thereof is used to remove the gall bladder. The gall bladder may or may not be pre-crushed by means of a crushing forceps prior to pulling on the wires to cover the gall bladder and remove the membrane and gall bladder from the patient.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,037,427 ("Harada") discloses a stent made of a bidirectional shape memory alloy such as nickel-titanium (Ni-Ti) binary alloy, copper-aluminum-nickel (Cu-Al-Ni) ternary alloy or copper-zinc-aluminum (Cu-Zn-Al) ternary alloy. The stent has a small diameter at 15.degree. C. and lower and has a larger diameter at body temperature (about 35.degree. to 37.degree. C.). The stent can be formed of spirally wound flat wire, a longitudinally split cylindrical tube, a net in the form of a cylindrical tube, or a cylindrical tube. In use, the stent is shrunk onto a catheter tube, the catheter is introduced into a tubular organ while cooling the stent with ice-cooled physiologic saline, the stent is heated by heat of the living body and the stent expands into contact with the inner wall of the tubular organ.